Looking for off property hotel advice

Hey guys we are going to be in Orlando in Aug (Early Aug) to meet our friends from England whose little boy is desperate to see WWHP. We are going to stay at an off-site hotel & I am completely at a loss where to stay. I know staying on property gives the "front o'line access" but our friends arent' doing it, so we should probably stay at "partner hotel." By staying at the PH we get to have bkfst at 3 brmstks & Early Entry to the park. Have any of you stayed at any of these hotels? I'd like to save money, but it doesn't have to be uber cheap.

I don't know about Universal partner hotels, but Disney good neighbor hotels mean simply someone paid a fee to get the title.

My advice is ditch the list and use something like TripAdvisor. Find hotels near where you want to stay and look up reviews there. You can also refer to the Unofficial Guide to WDW (Ding!) for a list of great off-site hotels. Their list includes some hotels on I-Drive.

I just stayed at the Renaissance Orlando a few weeks ago and it was nice. The beds were SO comfy!! Plus if you have any desire to go to Sea World it is right across the street.

I took your advice & tried to book it. As luck would have it, it's not available...grrr, so back to square one. I think I am looking at the Peabody??

One of the biggest challenges I have is traveling as far as we do, being that close to Disney & not taking my kids to the parks. If it were my choice I'd do a day at Universal & the rest at Disney. Our friends want to do all the days at Universal...is there really enough to do for 3- 4 days? I've never been. I'm always happy to try something new, but I also get to return in Sept. I think we'll have to do a night at DTD & maybe a meal at one of the resorts, you know, "for the children."

Honestly, I was done with all of Universal and Islands of Adventure in a half day. I'd say you could probably get it all in within a day or at the most 2. By day 3 and 4 I'm not sure what you'll end up doing. Any chance of splitting from the group and doing Disney on your own with the kids?

Sorry to hear the Renaissance isn't available! I don't know anything about the Peabody.

So I did a little research & have changed our approach. We are going to stay on Disney property, got a pin code, took it as a sign. We are going to do 3 days in WDW prior to our friends arriving & then 2 days w/friends in WWHP. I am going to rent a car for the 3 days that they are in FL & also to get us back to MCO...we'll use ME to get to the hotel. We also get to do the H2O parks & my kids are taking an "Ocean Life" class in Epcot, should be a new experience. Thanks for the advice!!